Casual Pumpkin Portrait

 On October 12th, I did a fall themed session with EJ.  

For this session, I used:

Photography Equipment	Props/Miscellaneous
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 Westcott FJ400 1 rectangular softbox 1 60-inch umbrella with sock 1 strip box 2 C-stands 1 light stand Sandbags Canvas backdrop Backdrop stand Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps Orange gel	2 posing cubes Pumpkins Chair Fall leaves Crate

The set up

For this setup, I started by placing the two posing cubes in the center of the backdrop and then surrounding them with pumpkins and leaves.  I then placed the strip box next to the backdrop stand on my right, which was going to add some light to the backdrop and some rim lighting to the model.  I then placed my main light diagonal to my rim light on my left-hand side.  Finally, I placed the umbrella with a sock slightly off-center to my right to act as a fill. 

Initial Set Up

Camera Settings

For the camera setting, I used ISO 100, with an aperture of F8 and a shutter speed of 1/200s.  My focal length varied from 28mm to 94mm, with the most common focal length being 35mm. 

The Photos

This was actually a hard shoot for me because first I don’t shoot a lot of male portraits, so I really need to think hard about posing and second because I just couldn’t get the commercial fall look I was going for.  I want to state that it is not the model’s fault, it is mine because I couldn’t translate the image in my mind to reality.  While I believe I got some decent shots, I don’t think this was my best work.

In this image the model is relaxed and casual, but the image gives off that JCPenney or senior portrait vibe.  Overall, it is a nice picture but not interesting.  In post I adjusted the white balance and exposure, then used the Spyder Color checker software to do the fine color adjustments to get a nice skin tone.  I used a medium contrast tone curve and a medium vignette. 

Final Thoughts:

While all the photos from this set are technically good photos, I personally don’t love them and that is on me.  I approached this like I would a female model shoot, and not like a male model shoot were less is more and the dramatic shadows and hard light are expected.  Also, while a lot of the images meet the expected style of basic commercial images, I don’t think commercial is my style.  I think my style is more editorial.  I also think if I redid this shoot, it would need to be on location, at a farm somewhere, as just the blank canvas backdrop didn’t help tell the story I wanted to tell.  Or I would have go with fewer pumpkins and dramatic lighting.   While I had one or two images leaning toward that, I didn’t fully lean into the concept.  So, I have found a goal for 2025, which is to work with more male models.

If you want to see all the images from this session, you can see them here: Casual Pumpkin Portrait.

Credits:

Model: EJ (IG: @hethechamp123)
Set Design: Heather (IG: @munchkin_photos_by_heather)